If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him

This book is very much of its time. I am not saying that is a bad thing. Third wave feminism is clearly on display in the characters and the subject matter. McCrumb tells three connected stories in which wives are accused of killing their husbands. Two the stories are set in the modern day, and the other one is set just after the Civil War. McCrumb’s amateur detective in this series is forensic anthropologist, Elizabeth MacPherson. (This is the 8th novel in the series.) However, in this book, Elizabeth is working for her brother, Bill, who is a lawyer, and his partner. Bill, A. P. Hill, the partner, and Elizabeth all have equal parts. Some of the interactions between A. P. and the woman she’s representing are hilarious. This book show more demonstrates how well McCrumb can write irreverent and snarky characters. The “mysteries” aren’t very challenging, but the book is fun if you are in the mood for humor and snark. show less

I just finished this book and I enjoyed it immensely. This is my first Sharyn McCrumb book and I love her writing style and her wit. I will definitely be reading more of her books.

That said, I wouldn't recommend reading this book before you read the others in the Elizabeth MacPherson series. Most series writers that I read (for instance, Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone books) give enough background information in each book that you can pick up any one of them and you don't feel like you've missed something. My first Kinsey Milhone book was "M is for Malice" and I didn't feel lost at all -- but I did start reading the series from the beginning.

That was not the case with this book. I don't want to spoil the book for anyone, so I will just show more generally say that you can tell there's *something* going on with Elizabeth and Cameron, her significant other or husband, but you really have a hard time figuring out what it is until almost the end of the book -- and even then it's a guess. It's a little distracting because Elizabeth is supposed to be the focus of the series, but she seems to be distracted by something the reader isn't completely privy to.

I highly recommend this book as a fun read, but don't make your introduction to this series. show less

Substance: A story of 3 women dealing with abusive husbands, and their murderous solutions to the problem. Plus 2 women with different spousal challenges. The compare and contrast is interesting.
Style: McCrumb is always entertaining, often witty and humorous even with serious matters. The weave of the stories is well-done (which is not always the case with this framework). Enjoyable read but not outstanding.
NOTES:
The dedication page notes that the title comes from a comment by a battered woman: "If I'd killed him when I met him, I'd be out of prison now."

This book was a bit jumbled and vague, and it took 2/3 of the book before the P.I./forensic anthropologist Elizabeth actually touched either case, despite the blurb on the back cover suggesting she was busy on both cases soon after starting work as a P.I. for her brother's law firm. Amy Hill(A.P. Hill) was a decent character, mostly, though a bit too brittle for my taste, but I suppose she could be believable enough considering she's a woman lawyer working in a town where most lawyers seem to be men. The cases were interesting, the investigation was very light on details, science or logic, and the bizarre family law case involving a dolphin was almost too cute to fit the rest of the novel. Still, it was a fun book.

In this novel Elizabeth seems real - but her brother takes on the silly role. The mystery was clever, but the theme of mistreated wives was depressing, particularly in light of Elizabeth's loss. A better novel than some of the earlier ones.

Do not take any more recommendations from Malice Domestic. Best novel of the year, my butt! It was OK, but it was too goofy and far-fetched in many ways. The outcome of he "murder" investigation on the preacher's wife was relatively interesting, but the characters were too "out there," but not funny "out there."

Witty and amusing narrative of modern day law practice, marital woes and Confederate history, woven together with quirky characters and quirkier situations. McCrumb does her usual workmanlike job of dealing with all this regional eccentricity to provide the reader a pleasant experience.